NZ flooding: Two cars in ditch as road disappears

THE occupants of two cars are very lucky to have escaped without injury after their vehicles dropped into a hole when a road collapsed in front of them after dark last night in New Zealand's Dunedin.

Constable Kerry Fegan said the first car came around a corner in Highcliff Rd, between Camp Rd and Seal Point Rd, about 7pm and ended upside down in the hole after the driver - the only occupant - failed to see the road had ''disappeared from underneath it''.

Another car, carrying two occupants, followed the first car into the hole and ''basically parked on top of them'', Const Fegan said.

The occupants of both cars were ''very lucky'' to have escaped without injury as there was a ''massive drop-off'' only metres from where they both ended up.

He had spoken to the occupants, who were shaken, but otherwise fine.

''There was a little bit of reference to Lotto tickets.''

With the southbound lane and some of the northbound lane taken out, police closed that section of the road last night and it would probably stay ''impassable'' for some time.

Dunedin City Council roading maintenance engineer Peter Standring last night warned people needed to be careful travelling around the city today.